Soaking it all in

Some days are very, very hard.
Some days I want to run away and scoop elephant poop in the circus.
Any circus.
Even a really crappy circus.

Just being honest with you, there are mornings I wake up on the wrong side of the weekend.
School just started. I could cry with all the planning and preparation, lunch boxes, snack baggies, paperwork and meetings, emails and tell-me-about-your-child questionnaires. I don't want my girls going to school with their hair all looking crazy and fuzzy... even though I KNOW it's bound to happen sooner or later. I don't want the boys going to school wearing their sisters' socks... but I suppose if that's the worst concern I have, that's not too bad. I don't want to forget to send that special whatever on the right day or turn in the student-of-the-week binder on the right morning. I don't want to forget the permission slip or that it's Orange Day and, oh yeah...someone needs a 1 1/2 inch binder with a clear front pocket. Today.

But there are other days.
Days that are really, really sweet.

Yesterday was one of those days.

It was this sweet girl's birthday!

Sweet baby girl!! Turning SIX!!

So, as is typical in our fam...

I made a cake, bought some gifts, decorated the dining room with crepe paper and plastic table cloth and we partied like the awesome G-rated rock stars that we are! She enjoyed her pointy birthday hat, balloons, special seat at the table along with all the other perks of having your birthday fall on the first full day of school! 

And then suddenly one of our boys disappeared. 

He was in a near panic.

There were bags and backpacks being rifled through.

Multiple trips up and down the stairs.

Then we realized what he was doing.

He needed a gift for his sister for her birthday.

And he was choosing from his most prized possessions - 

the things I had brought him when I came to meet them the first time this January. 

He chose to give her the frog with our photo on it's tummy. 

I printed this photo, cut it out, and put it in the frog tummy.
He kept it safe and treasured.
**Don't judge... 5 days, cold showers, no make up and
I was about to abandon my babies back to the care center for
who-knows-how-long. **

I had handed that to him the last day we were together before I left for 3 long months to wait for clearance to bring them home. 

Having watched him lovingly look through his box of all the things he adores and making a face that they weren't good enough... I realized how important this was to him. 

After she had opened her gifts and no one handed her the frog... he made another panicked dash up the stairs. 

I ran after him and caught him just as he was about to dash back down the stairs 

with his hidden bag of quarters - his tooth fairy money.

I pulled him into his bedroom and looked into those sweet brown eyes and said

"buddy, it makes Mommy's heart SO happy when you want to give your sister a gift for her birthday! Why don't you keep your money and your frog... 

and let Mommy and Daddy give the gifts for now, okay?"

He looked a little confused, but also a bit relieved. I could see the panic leaving his face and I began to wonder about gift-giving occasions in his first family. 

I gave him a huge hug, squeezed him tight, told him how much I love him and how happy he made me because he's so sweet... he smiled and said "I love you, Mom!" and we went back downstairs for the rest of the party.

Later as I was watching our kids just sitting around in the living room, enjoying being together, watching the birthday girl unwrap her gifts and chattering about the cool things she had been given... I just looked around and felt SO thankful for what I've been given. 

We don't have the coolest "stuff"... 

and we sometimes send the kids to school wearing their sisters socks... 

but, I wouldn't trade this for anything.